• You have up to eight weeks to resolve a complaint.
• After this, a complaint can come to the Legal Ombudsman.
• Read our guidance on resolving complaints.

• Read our signposting guidance to find out what information you must share.
• Make sure you tell people about the six month time limit. If you don't they can bring a complaint after six months. 

• You will receive confirmation that we have received a complaint. You still have time to consider if there is anything else you can do to resolve the complaint.
• If you think the complaint is not in our jurisdiction, or one of the reasons set out in Scheme Rule 5.4 applies, please tell us so we can consider it as early as possible.

How long? It is currently taking up to 12 weeks to carry out jurisdiction checks. 

If that is the case, a team member may contact you, and/or the complainant, to discuss early resolution options or explain why they believe the complaint should not be investigated.

Sometimes it is not possible for us to investigate a complaint if, for example, the service provider being complained about has closed and there are no reasonable prospects of us resolving a complaint. Another example is when an offer has already been made to a complainant by a service provider which would be of higher or equal value to any remedy we could reasonably obtain for a complainant given the nature of their complaint. We may also be able to identify a remedy without the need for a lengthy investigation based on our expertise and experience and negotiate an agreement between you and the complainant.

How long?

Reviews to identify whether an early resolution is possible are taking 4-5 weeks. We will contact you to let you know whether an early resolution will take place or whether we will be taking the complaint forward for investigation.

They will check:

• Is the complaint within our scheme rules (Chapter 5)?
• Should we investigate?
• Is there a reason for us to dismiss or discontinue a complaint (Scheme Rule 5.7)?

They might contact you and the complainant to get a better understanding of the complaint before they make this decision. You can read our case studies to find out why we do not always investigate a complaint.

The investigator will let you know if the complaint is accepted for investigation, or not, and what the next steps are.

How long?

It is currently taking 9-12 months for most cases to be accepted, and an investigation to begin. Sometimes more complex cases can take 18-24 months.

• The investigator will confirm with you the complaints they are investigating.
• They will speak to you. Hearing both sides of the story helps us to see ways in which we might resolve the issue.
• They will ask for evidence from you and the complainant, and they will rely on this to form their opinion.

How long?

We complete most investigations in 3-6 months, but more complex complaints can take up to 12 months.

We need you to:

• Send us the key evidence within 7-14 days.
• Follow our investigation process, which we will explain to you.
• Tell us if there are exceptional circumstances which mean you need additional time to respond or need us to communicate with you in a different way.

• If we can’t reach an agreed outcome we will send you a case decision, and the evidence we’ve used.
• You and your complainant will have 14 days to provide comments, from which we will consider whether it is appropriate to be sent to an ombudsman.
• You can still accept the investigator’s view once you’ve read the case decision.
• Our guidance on determining complaints and putting things right may be helpful.

• The ombudsman will review the complaint by looking at the available evidence and the case decision.
• If the complainant accept the ombudsman's decision you must follow the steps set out by the ombudsman.
• If the complainant does not accept the ombudsman's decision there are no more steps in our process. There is no further appeal stage.

If an ombudsman considers that a final decision is not required the case will be closed on the basis of the recommendation outlined in the case decision.

Please read Frequently Asked Questions for the process used for complaints referred to the Legal Ombudsman before 1 April 2023.

• The Legal Services Act requires us to have a case fee and a test for waiving the fee.
• You can read the guidance on the test, and whether you meet it, in our Scheme Rules guidance (section 5) here.

• The final decision will include the information which we intend to publish and when it will be available.